NEW BRUNSWICK — Rutgers University has a new president, a new athletic conference and a new deal to merge with a medical university.

Now, it needs a new plan.

Rutgers President Robert Barchi announced today the state university will rewrite its strategic plan for the first time in nearly 18 years. Over the next year, school officials will use consultants, focus groups and surveys to come up with a new-long term blueprint for the university’s future.

"The time is right to begin that process," Barchi said. "In the past month, we have achieved several major milestones: approval of Rutgers’ integration with UMDNJ by our governing boards, voter approval of a long-awaited bond act for higher education construction, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights’ entry into the Big Ten Conference, and the university’s admission to the prestigious Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the academic consortium of Big Ten schools. Let’s capitalize on this momentum."

Rutgers hired the Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, to help write the new strategic plan. The firm will be paid $1.45 million, said Greg Trevor, a Rutgers spokesman.

"The Boston Consulting Group, which was selected through a competitive process, stood out for its breadth of experience," Trevor said. "BCG’s cost proposal was in line with the university’s expectations, given the magnitude and importance of the project."

The state university wrote its last strategic plan in 1995, under then-President Francis Lawrence. That plan was designed to make New Brunswick-based Rutgers a top national research university. But the document sparked criticism on the Rutgers-Camden campus that the university was ignoring its satellite campuses.

For the new plan, Rutgers officials said they will assess the university’s strengths and weaknesses, study peer institution, review higher education trends and interview community members.

Barchi is scheduled to present a preliminary report to the Rutgers Board of Governors and Board of Trustees in June. The final plan will be approved next fall.